Borneo Lady: September 2021

"Sayur Manis is one of the popular Vegetables in Sabah. Every Sabahan knows what they are, how they look like, where to get them, how to cook it and how they taste.

These plants are popular and are cultivated in our home land, Sabah, Borneo,

They can be found easily in the market, restaurants and coffee shops

The Natives called it "Sayur manis" means sweet veges , while the Chinese call it Sabah veges "Sabah Choi" but the Scientific name for it is Sauropus Androgynous

They come from the Phyllanthaceae family

Most natives in the village believe it's also a plant that will ward off evil spirits, especially the "balang-balang", a kind of vampire floating in the air at night, looking for victims to suck their blood.😈

Sabah people have had no problem consuming it for centuries, and they had no idea it was toxic until 1995. An incident happened in Taiwan killing 9 people and 8 on a lung transplant after consuming the same plant, Sauropus Androgynous. A similar incident happened in Japan in 2005 and it reported so many people fell very ill, after consuming the plants, but no deaths occured. What happened ? Something must have gone wrong somehow, for why the Sabah people have no problem after consuming this vegetable for many years, while the Taiwanese and Japanese are suffering from this plant? They are same like us, Asian and human beings? Are those vegetables the same as the puffer fish which the Japanese love to eat? It's well known that Puffer fish are very toxic fish. The toxin in the fish can kill humans yet the Japanese still take the risk to eat them.

We will continue this query towards the end of this topic to find out the possible reason.

In restaurants, the popular dish for "sayur manis" is:

Stir-fried with dried prawns and egg

Egg drop "Sayur manis" soup.

Another specialty is the Pan Mein.

A must-try famous Pan Mein is at Lintas Pan Mein shop, Kota Kinabalu.

This is one place, I normally come for my gastronomic breakfast delight😋😋.

Click here to link to the place if u want to try this dish (FYI, it's a Non halal dish)

One friend shares with me of how she replanted her "Sayur Manis". Whenever she used this vegetable leaves, she will soak the stems in a glass of water over night , then stick them into the soil the next morning, they will then grow on their own after watering for a few days. Sounds Easy peasy! I want to try too!!

This time, I didn't bin it as scraps. I was going to replant them to see what happened.

Stem soaked over night and then stacked them into the soil the next morning.

Some in the front yard, some beside the fence and some along the pathway.

True enough they grew fast!

I found that they are hardy plants, very easy to grow without much care except watering once in a while with lots of sunshine. So planting in an open space like my little garden is ideal.

"Sayur Manis" along the pathway to the main road.

Some beside the fence

I came to know that this plant is a perennial which means it can carry on growing for a long period and can grow up to a height of 2-3 meters. The tip of these plants is very tender.

An article by "specialty produce" ,stated this plant contains an antioxidant, iron, calcium, Vitamins A,C,E & K.

It also contain Papaverine that is known to treat hypertension and erectile dysfunction.

Another article written by hungerhunger.blogspot said, these vegetables have lots of oxalic acid that can cause kidney stones and gout. so, back to the basic rule of consumption like all consumable stuff - take in moderation to be safe.

Then as I looked further into the ? poison of "sayur manis" , I found this article from cilisos.my It has a detailed explanation to it. To summarize it, these vegetables contain high doses of Papaverin. Maximum human dosage for Papaverine is 300 mgm per day. Those cases of Taiwanese or Japanese who took the Smoothie drink registered huge amounts of 3480 mgms per week which is more than ? normal, but not by much. They also eat them raw. To my knowledge, none of our people in Sabah take them raw. Some research said "maybe" it's the cooking process that deactivates the poison but that's only "may be", no further confirmation?? Even though when Sabah People heard about the Taiwanese incident, none of them were affected and continue eating them. I mentioned to one lady who said,"Aiyoo, we been eating them for years and nothing happens lah!".

I guess only Borneo people dare to eat those plants😂? Would you?😜

If you dare, how about trying this homemade pan mein with sayur manis?

My Homemade Pan Mein with fried anchovies, fish balls, chicken slices, and "sayur manis".

Home made Noodle

To make the noodle is very easy , only need 3 ingredients: 2 cups Flour, 3 eggs, 1/2 teasp salt and 1tabsp water. I repeat....Only 1 tablespoon of water, not more! That's it!

The measurements I took from "the wok of life" works very well for me.

Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs and water. Mix well and then knead for 15 mins. If u have a kneading machine, knead for 10 mins

This is how the dough look like after 15 mins. It looks rough but trust me, they are fine!😊

Leave in the mixing bowl with a cover for 30 mins.

After 30 mins, the dough has softened a bit and easier to roll into sheets

divide the dough into 2

Roll out the dough into a sheet. Use flour generously so the noodle will not stick later. You will not regret doing that😁. In this batch, I tried to make different patterns and ways of noodles. I tried hand made and machine made. I also made different patterns of them.

Fold the sheet as shown in the picture, making sure each layer sprinkle or rubbed with flour.

Hand made noodles

Cut thinly with a knife

and they will turned out like this.

I also made the "tearing" method noodles. Roll into sheets as shown in the picture and then tear them into bite pieces before dropping them into the boiling water. The noodles will come out in chunks.

As for the machine made, I still roll out the dough at least once with the rolling pin, so it's easier to insert into the machine.

Then roll according to the thickness required for once on this section before moving to the pattern slot. There is a level adjuster at the side of the machine for the thickness of choice.

This is one example of the pattern slot

And another.

Once the noodle is ready to be cooked, prepare a boiling wok of water. Add 1 teasp salt

Add the noodles

Stir a bit with a chop stick to make sure the noodle not sticking together. Cook for 5 to 8mins.

Transfered the cooked noodle to a basin of cold water for 30 seconds. This is one trick that makes a chewy, bouncy texture noodles!😁

Drain dry before serving in the bowl.

Preparing Soup stock:

Put a handful of anchovies with 500 mls water to boil.

Add a teasp of seasoning powder (Maggi).

When the stock is boiling, add in chicken slices

Then the fish balls

I made my own fish balls😁. To make life easier, you can get the ready made ones from the market or supermarket. I just got in the mood for making fish balls at the same time, so just ignore my fish balls! 😅

After the anchovies stock with chicken pieces and fish balls were cooked, add in the veges.

A handful of "Sayur Manis" from my garden.

"Sayur Manis" will be the last ingredient to be added into the boiling soup and cooked for at least 1 min.

Pour in the soup contents into a bowl of prepared noodles.

Before serving, garnished the noodle with fried onion and fried anchovies.
The crunchiness of the fried anchovies and the chewy noodle goes very well together.

A successful home made egg noodles!

Mmmm...yummy yam yam😋😋😋😊😘.